The Chinese Jinling shipyard delivered the Eco Mediterranea, the tenth of 12 vessels ordered belonging to the Grimaldi Green 5th Generation , which includes the largest and most eco-friendly ro-ro units in the world for short sea shipping.

The Eco Mediterranea flies the Italian flag, has a length of 238 meters, a beam of 34 meters, a gross tonnage of 67,311 tonnes and a service speed of 20.8 knots. The loading capacity of her seven decks – two of which are hoistable – is twice that of the previous class of short sea ro-ro ships deployed by the Grimaldi Group: in fact, the vessel can carry some 7,800 linear meters of freight, equivalent to around 500 trailers and 180 cars.

The vessel is equipped with state-of-the-art, electronically controlled engines and with an exhaust gas cleaning system for the reduction of sulphur and particulate emissions.

In addition, thanks to the adoption of numerous highly innovative technological solutions, at the same speed the Eco Mediterranea consumes the same amount of fuel compared to the previous generation ro-ro ships, and is therefore able to halve CO2 emissions per unit transported. While at berth, the vessel reaches the “Zero emission in port” target: during port operations, the Eco Mediterranea uses the electricity stored in mega lithium batteries with a total power of 5 MWh, which are recharged during navigation thanks to shaft generators and 350 m2 of solar panels.

“Operating modern and ecological vessels means accelerating the ecological transition in a key sector for the global economy such as the transport of goods,” said Emanuele Grimaldi, Managing Director of the Neapolitan shipping company. “The Eco Mediterranea will operate in the Mediterranean Sea, a crucial basin for national and international traffic that we have been serving with an ever larger, younger and greener fleet”.